£9billion could be spent more effectively by shelving plans for a new road link and tunnel route.
The campaign group Transport Action Network [TAN] has campaigned heavily against the proposed Lower Thames Crossing, which would see 23km of new road created to connect the A2 and M2 in Kent to the A13 and M25 in Essex. 4km of this would run beneath the namesake river, easing congestion at the Dartford Crossing.
Now the organisation wants the Government to seriously consider an alternative they believe would be much cheaper. The so-called Essex-Kent Superlinks solution, developed by Jonathan Roberts Consulting and published in the Roberts Report commissioned by TAN, has been estimated to cost between £1billion and £2.5billion.
The counter-proposal features a mixed modality package, including a new rail link connecting the north and south sides of the Thames Estuary between West Thurrock, Essex, and Dartford-Greenhithe in Kent. According to the provisional assessment, this alone could support between 50 and 100million rail journeys each year.
A KenEx tram route, which has already been advocated by TAN, would deliver additional capacity between Grays and Ebbsfleet International. Meanwhile, ferries would run between Grays, Greenhithe, and Bluewater, and Tilbury and Gravesend. Investment in freight improvements for major ports and the Channel Tunnel would also be possible within the budget, removing up to 1.1million heavy goods vehicles from the region’s roads annually.
‘We’re calling on the UK government to smash the cosy consensus on how to connect Essex with Kent and the Channel Ports with the Midlands and beyond,’ TAN founder and director Chris Todd told New Civil Engineer. ‘Every time this subject comes up, the bureaucracy of the British state produces the same tired old answer – a massive and vastly expensive new road.
‘It’s time for the new Government to put that nonsense in the shredder. They should promote solutions addressing the needs of working people in the twenty-first century rather than forcing upon them a scheme rooted in the thinking of the 1970s,’ they continued. ‘It’s a scandal that, for one of the most important transport connections in the UK, no serious exploration of alternatives has ever been undertaken until now. We’ve filled that gap and done the government’s disruptive thinking for them.’
Analysts have also pointed the ‘uneven playing field’ rail freight is currently forced to compete on, with far more investment in road capacity and infrastructure. Meanwhile, National Highways has pointed to the need for an additional route over or under the Thames in the far east of Greater London, as the Dartford Crossing is currently the region’s only option for drivers to get across the body of water.
A final decision on how to deliver a solution will be made on 23rd May 2025, although Chancellor Rachel Reeves is has already revealed the search for private financing to support the Lower Thames Crossing has begun – suggesting a green light is expected.
Image: Isaac Sloman / Unsplash
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